Utagawa Hiroshige Shunjo Kari no Koi, Edo Period Japanese Shunga Harubon, Erotic Art Colour Woodblock Ukiyoe Book, Three Volumes, Ansei 3 (1856)
Utagawa Hiroshige Shunjo Kari no Koi, Edo Period Japanese Shunga Harubon, Erotic Art Colour Woodblock Ukiyoe Book, Three Volumes, Ansei 3 (1856)
- Dispatch
- Prepared and sent from Tokyo within 7–14 days, often sooner, or as arranged
- Arrival
- United States · usually 4–7 days after dispatch, insured and tracked Check the Shipping Flowchart here
- Import
Duties and customs · View the estimate
A guide for this piece: about $243, based on the 10% US charge on the declared value of goods made in Japan.
The final figure is set by US Customs and depends on where the piece was made and the kind of object it is. Many antiques over a century old carry no ordinary duty; most jewellery and leather goods add a single-digit rate.
With EMS, any charge is collected by your postal service on delivery. For pieces of significant value we can often arrange duties prepaid before dispatch.
How the estimate is reached · Ask for a figure on this piece
- Character
- Ornate 7.6 of 10 ·
- Replies
- Within one Tokyo business day · Ask the curator team
- Guarantee
- Authenticity guaranteed · How we grade
Every piece is measured by hand, in centimetres as Japan measures. Please allow 1–2 cm (about ½ inch) for the give of the material and the hand that held the tape.
Where each figure is taken · View the plate
Object, sculpture and ceramics
Condition report
Good
- Giftable
- Mint
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Honest Wear
- As Found
The Landscape Master Indoors
Hiroshige is the poet of roads and weather, and here the same eye turns to the rooms of the licensed quarter: staircases, balconies and paper screens alive with shadows. A complete set of three is the harder thing to find, and the wear is honest evidence of a book that was read.
Best for: Collectors of Edo erotic books and of Hiroshige beyond the landscape
Condition notes
Wear throughout with rubbed covers; a large stain to the upper part of the middle volume; toning and spotting to the text pages. Discs in some photographs were laid over details for discretion.
Grades, ratings and commentary are given to the best of our ability, knowledge and experience, and condition remains partly a matter of personal perception. What we stand behind without qualification is authenticity, truthful description and provenance, to the best of our knowledge. How we grade
Couldn't load pickup availability
All sales are final. Please read our refund policy before purchase.
Considered offers only. The Desk replies personally to figures made in good faith; those set far below the asking price receive no reply.
Examined in Tokyo, one price, insured to your door. How buying from Japonista works · Join the Circle, free
A complete three-volume erotic book of the pleasure quarters, dated Ansei 3 (1856) and offered as illustrated by Utagawa Hiroshige, the great master of the landscape print.
This piece belongs to the private room of the house and is shown to adults only.
The Piece
Shunjo Kari no Koi, roughly Spring Feelings, a Passing Love, follows the life of a licensed quarter through stairways, balconies, banquet rooms and bathhouses. Each opening sets a text page or a second picture beside a framed plate, and the designer delights in architecture: latticed windows, sliding doors, a staircase cutting diagonally across the page, and a celebrated image of a courtesan standing before a paper screen on which the shadows of a lively party fall.
The text is signed by Yajiro Kitahachi III, a playful pen name borrowed from the two travellers of the comic novel Hizakurige, a reminder that these books were meant to amuse as much as to entice.
Art and Social History
Shunga, spring pictures, also called makura-e and warai-e, were issued quietly and almost always without the artist's name. Hiroshige is far better known for the Tokaido road than for erotica, which makes books of this kind a fascinating byway in his work.
Details
- Title: Shunjo Kari no Koi
- Attribution: Utagawa Hiroshige, as offered
- Text: Yajiro Kitahachi III
- Date: Ansei 3 (1856), as described
- Genre: shunga ehon (erotic picture book)
- Technique: colour woodblock printing on Japanese paper
- Volumes: three, a complete set
- Binding: stitched, blue covers with cloud and paper crane design, title slips
- Format: hanshibon, about 22.5 x 16 cm (8.9 x 6.3 in)
Measured by hand; please allow a gentle margin of about 1 to 2 cm (0.5 in).
Condition
- Wear throughout, with rubbing and losses to the covers.
- A large stain across the upper part of the middle volume.
- Many text pages, with toning and spotting consistent with age.
- The small discs seen in some photographs were laid over details for discretion and are not part of the book.
Condition grade C (good, visible wear) on the Japanese scale; see Japanese condition ranks, explained.
Authenticity & Care
The attribution to Hiroshige is the one given with the book and is not independently confirmed. Store flat, away from light and damp, and turn the leaves with clean, dry hands.
Delivery from Japan
Packed flat by hand in Japan in discreet outer packaging and shipped insured and tracked by EMS or an equivalent express service. Import duties and taxes, where applicable, are payable on arrival. Every sale is final; please ask anything you wish to know before you buy, and see our published policy.
Considered offers are welcome through Send an Offer, and each one is reviewed personally. Continue to Shunga and Hidden Arts or read our essay on shunga.
Concierge
Seeking a particular Edo erotic book? Our Hunting Salon™ locates it across Japan's private collector circles, then inspects, documents and delivers it to you. Begin a Hunting Salon™ request.
Collectors also search: Hiroshige shunga book · Ansei period erotic picture book · Edo pleasure quarter woodblock book
Chosen for you